Library / English Dictionary

REVEL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: revelled    , revelling   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unrestrained merrymaking

Synonyms:

revel; revelry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("revel" is a kind of...):

conviviality; jollification; merrymaking (a boisterous celebration; a merry festivity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "revel"):

binge; bout; bust; tear (an occasion for excessive eating or drinking)

bender; booze-up; carousal; carouse; toot (revelry in drinking; a merry drinking party)

bacchanal; bacchanalia; debauch; debauchery; drunken revelry; orgy; riot; saturnalia (a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity)

whoopee (noisy and boisterous revelry)

Derivation:

revel (celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take delight in

Example:

he delights in his granddaughter

Synonyms:

delight; enjoy; revel

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

"Revel" entails doing...:

expend; use (use up, consume fully)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "revel"):

have a ball; have a good time (enjoy oneself greatly)

wallow (delight greatly in)

live it up (enjoy oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities

Example:

Let's whoop it up--the boss is gone!

Synonyms:

jollify; make happy; make merry; make whoopie; racket; revel; wassail; whoop it up

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "revel" is one way to...):

celebrate; fete (have a celebration)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "revel"):

carouse; riot; roister (engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

revel (unrestrained merrymaking)

reveller (a celebrant who shares in a noisy party)

revelry (unrestrained merrymaking)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It was astonishing what a peculiar and uncomfortable state of things was produced by the 'resting and reveling' process.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Here the hunters stored the ammunition-boxes they carried in the boats, and here, but a few feet from their noisy revels, I took possession of two boxes.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A certain mysterious feeling, consequent on the darkness, the secrecy of the revel, and the whisper in which everything was said, steals over me again, and I listen to all they tell me with a vague feeling of solemnity and awe, which makes me glad that they are all so near, and frightens me (though I feign to laugh) when Traddles pretends to see a ghost in the corner.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In the resolute readiness with which you cut your wealth into four shares, keeping but one to yourself, and relinquishing the three others to the claim of abstract justice, I recognised a soul that revelled in the flame and excitement of sacrifice.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Lady Russell had only to listen composedly, and wish them happy, but internally her heart revelled in angry pleasure, in pleased contempt, that the man who at twenty-three had seemed to understand somewhat of the value of an Anne Elliot, should, eight years afterwards, be charmed by a Louisa Musgrove.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"I've been routed up early all winter and had to spend my days working for other people, so now I'm going to rest and revel to my heart's content."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And yet here you are, at the top of your life, where diminishing and dying begin, living an obscure and sordid existence, hunting sea animals for the satisfaction of woman’s vanity and love of decoration, revelling in a piggishness, to use your own words, which is anything and everything except splendid.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

My horror of having committed a thousand offences I had forgotten, and which nothing could ever expiate—my recollection of that indelible look which Agnes had given me—the torturing impossibility of communicating with her, not knowing, Beast that I was, how she came to be in London, or where she stayed—my disgust of the very sight of the room where the revel had been held—my racking head—the smell of smoke, the sight of glasses, the impossibility of going out, or even getting up!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Me has tea!" said Demi, preparing to join in the revel.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Not at all. To get it patented, to make money from it, to revel in piggishness with all night in while other men do the work. That’s my purpose. Also, I have enjoyed working it out.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)